Lime pelleting of inoculated clover seed was developed in Australia to reduce the amount of lime required for the establishment of clovers on acid soils (Loneragan et al. 1955). In New Zealand, Greenwood ( 1961) found that lime pelleting of inoculated seed increased the establishment of clover sown in a cultivated, unlimed, podzolised soil. However, when clover seed has been oversown on to acid soils, broadcast lime has increased nodulation whereas lime pelleting has proved ineffective (Cullen & Ludecke 1966; Adams & Lowther 1970) . This ineffectiveness has since been attributed to poorquality inoculants resulting in low numbers of rhizobia on the pelleted seed (Lowther & McDonald 1972) , and recent trials have shown marked responses to the pelleting of clover seed oversown on to tussock grassland soils (Lowther & McDonald 1973).